This event has been postponed. A new date will be released soon.
With Anna Colin, University of Nottingham.
Part of the Cultural and Historical Seminar Series.
Abstract
In this seminar, I will present the last stages of my PhD research on organisations that have combined the trinal functions of school, community centre and cultural space, historically and today. The thesis is centred on three main case studies located in England and which are bound by a shared commitment to educational access, cultural democracy, and local social change: the late 19th century university settlement Toynbee Hall – a residential centre for educational, social, and cultural work among the socioeconomically deprived in Whitechapel, East London; the 1970s community arts space Centerprise – a neighbourhood centre integrating a bookshop, literacy and publishing activities, and an advice centre in Hackney, East London; and the 2010s independent art school and cultural space Open School East in Hackney and later Margate, East Kent.
Multi-vision, multi-purpose, and multi-public, the particular model of organisation that this thesis is enquiring into tends towards versatility, agility, openness, and contemporaneity, and away from constraint, tradition, and commercial interests. It leans towards an ideal of alternativeness, a determination to operate differently, unexpectedly, holistically, and in a reactive manner rather than by design. The present research sets out to unpick this model at the levels of pedagogical, cultural, and social practice and engagement; conceptualisation and use of architectural space; and governance, management, and finance – studying them independently as well as in their entanglements.
It further aims to analyse, based on the three case studies, the patterns, potentials, and pitfalls of multi-public educational and cultural organisations, and to weigh up ideals versus reality, intent versus outcome. In other words, how do the studied organisations’ values align with their practices and what are the mechanisms that facilitate, alter, or hinder this alignment? In line with these reflections, this PhD asks two broader questions: What makes organisations alternative and what are they alternatives to? What does it take to remain alternative or, put differently, what is the lifespan of alternatives?